Electric Trailer Brakes Work in Reverse But Not Going Forward

Updated 09/22/2015 | Published 09/21/2015

Question:

2004 25foot goose neck 12 in drums. brakes only work in rev. just changed the brakes not self adj. jacked up it sounds like there all working.

asked by: Wayne

Expert Reply:

You may have switched the left and right sides by accident when you installed the new brakes. this would not change how the magnets power up but for trailer brake assemblies there is a left and a right and switch them can negatively affect braking.

The magnet actuator arm should point towards the front of the trailer. So for # 23-459 as an example based on placement of the brake assembly that has the magnet arm pointed forward you can tell this is a right hand assembly.

If you do have the brakes on the correct sides then you may need to adjust them. New brakes will also need to be adjusted out to where you can hear a slight but constant dragging of the pads on the inside of the drum when the wheel is turned. To see how to manually adjust trailer brake assemblies check out the video I attached, fast-forward to the 4:35 mark of the video.

expert reply by: Michael H